SEQUENTIAL NAVIGATIONS

What are the priorities of a social space, specifically a student center at the University of Virginia? One, students should see and be seen. Two, centers of gathering where people and activities come together. Three, moments of escape. Sequential Navigations is situated on the Dell which is an extensive landscape intervention that resolved the issues of stormwater management capacities of the University within its temperate climate. This proposal is a further extension of that system in a reconfiguration of the topography to create two new wetlands which also become social anchors of space. The building form then facilitates a sequential experience of these wetlands through curvilinear pathways whilst using expansion and contraction to tie together the topography with programmed spaces of various scales. The curving form rearticulates the social centrality of the wetlands while creating radial views of student life. Sequential Navigations is the creation of new landscapes and new building typologies in the greater colonial landscape of the University of Virginia, offering students a social space of gathering, exploration, and escape.